
2) Stock Repurchases – When companies have no other ideas for their huge Cash balances, they love to repurchase stock. Doing this lets them artificially boost their EPS by reducing the “Shares Outstanding” in the denominator – even if their core business has not grown at all. An easy way to remember this is that you should always use the bottom-most Net Income figure on the Income Statement to calculate EPS. SmartAsset Advisors, LLC (“SmartAsset”), a wholly owned subsidiary of Financial Insight Technology, is registered with the U.S. Caroline Cruickshank is a skilled writer with a diverse portfolio of articles across various categories. Her expertise spans topics such as living individuals, business leaders, and notable figures in the venture capital industry.
How Outstanding Shares Work
A company’s value is deemed higher if it can produce more earnings per common share, which might lead to a rise in share price. So far, we know that there are broadly two types of shareholding in a company. One shares outstanding formula of them is the basic shares that do not consider the effect of convertible elements, and the other one is the diluted EPS, which accounts for the impact of the convertible elements.
- In the case of KLX Inc., the company had 5.0 million authorized common stock and 1.0 million authorized preferred stock, but only 3.5 million common stock and 0.7 million preferred stock were issued.
- Let’s see some simple to advanced examples of issuance of common stock calculation to understand it better.
- When a company purchases its own stock, it lowers the number of outstanding shares, enhancing earnings per share and the stock price.
- Market capitalization can be calculated in different ways, but one common method is to use the Adjusted NAV.
- There are several types of common stock outstanding, including authorized, issued, and outstanding shares.
- Outstanding shares refer to the total number of shares issued and currently held by shareholders.
Earnings per Share Formula Variations

Investors investing in Alphabet shares should carefully assess the features of each class of share and consider virtual accountant their personal investment goals and risk tolerance before making an investment decision. Matthew McKenzie is a seasoned writer with a passion for finance and technology. From the start of Q-1 to Q-4, the net dilution from the converted securities was 100,000, 120,000, 125,000, and 150,000, respectively. The inputs you’ll need for this calculation are located on the balance sheet.
Sales & Investments Calculators
- In order to calculate a company’s earnings per share (EPS), a company’s net income is divided by its weighted average shares outstanding.
- To determine the floating stock, one deducts the restricted shares, such as those held by company insiders or the company itself, from the total number of outstanding shares.
- Diluted shares are when a company issues additional shares which leads to the dilution of the ownership proportion of a current shareholder.
- Helpful Fool Company’s board has elected to issue just 2,000 shares at this time.
- It adjusts for the timing of share issuances and repurchases, ensuring that Earnings Per Share accurately reflects the company’s performance on a per-share basis.
You can easily calculate it for public companies, and you can use it to create valuation multiples, such as the P / E multiple. But it is more useful when analyzing mergers and acquisitions and determining if a deal is accretive or dilutive. This adjustment is important because preferred dividends decrease the revenue available to common shareholders, which affects the diluted EPS calculation.

Download the Earnings per Share Formula Template

Here’s what you need to know about the different share counts that publicly traded companies use, as well as how you can calculate the number of outstanding common shares. Basic outstanding shares and diluted outstanding shares are two methods for calculating a company’s total number of outstanding shares. Understanding how outstanding shares work is critical for investors to make informed stock purchase or sale choices and for companies to regulate their capital structure and attract investment. The calculation of diluted shares can affect fixed assets earnings per share (EPS), a crucial financial indicator used to evaluate a company’s profitability. Investors can distinguish between authorized shares and outstanding shares, which represent the number of shares the investors currently hold.
- Investors can find the total number of outstanding shares a company has on its balance sheet.
- Overall, the shares outstanding offer a snapshot of a company’s equity structure and provide insights into its financial strategies.
- The company can increase or decrease the number of shares outstanding by issuing new shares or via share repurchases (buybacks).
- The formula is the current Share Price multiplied by the number of Shares Outstanding.
- Preferred shares can be a smart investment for those searching for a consistent income source and are ready to accept lower potential profits in exchange for lower volatility.
- The exclusion of these types of securities into common equity would mistakenly inflate the earnings per share (EPS) figure.
Using the outstanding options in the calculation will give a more conservative (lower) number for diluted EPS, because it will raise the Net Dilution even further (since more new shares are included). The reason that analysts and investors calculate diluted EPS is that basic EPS may overstate the actual amount of earnings per share that a common shareholder is entitled to. The primary distinction between preferred and common stock is that common stock grants stockholders voting rights, while preferred stock does not.